Day 22: Castuera to Campanario, Dec 4

I had a really great sleep—all these stays where we have the albergue to ourselves are really helping.

We made tea to warm up while we packed – just a small heater in this albergue – then headed out. We didn’t find any place open on our route back to drop off the keys except the cafe next to the bus station (where we’d asked for directions yesterday). It was a friendly spot if not the world’s best coffee or toast but I did get asked which kind of jam I wanted. Then Nedjo hung out in the cafe with our stuff while I did a Día power shop to restock us and then we dropped the keys at the senior's residence and were away.

It was another lovely day and very tranquil with no traffic on our Vía Pecuaria (livestock route). In some places there was a crushed sand surface—excellent when it’s been rainy. There were very dark clouds, and it had rained overnight, but thankfully we were spared. It was also a day with lots of sheep. Apparently Castuera – according to the sign we saw leaving town –  is the ovine capital of the world! As we were stopped for a snack a freight train went by and the sheep didn’t like that one bit. Strangely though, there were no dogs—go figure. Most of the day was quite flat, and the town itself was long and flat with lots of houses of the outskirts. There was also a granite quarry as we neared town.

We had booked into the private albergue that occupies the old train station. While in some places it is referred to as the municipal hostel, at €60 for a private room with shared bath or €25 for a dorm bed it those are definitely not municipal albergue prices and we were expecting something rather nice based on the reviews.

But as it turned out our whole experience there was disappointing and actually kind of odd. As we were entering town the partner of the albergue host came to meet us, sort of checking in on us, but we weren’t late and didn’t want a ride and yet afterwards felt we had to hurry on to the albergue which was a couple of kilometres beyond town. The albergue barely seemed open, with dirty linens strewn about and the bathroom floors so recently – and inexpertly – mopped that they were still wet when we left the next day. The restaurant was also closed which made figuring out dinner more complicated.

But we’d had good bread and cheese with us for lunch after we arrived and then walked the long way back to town – at least there is a path alongside the highway now – for drinks and picked up a spinach and potato tortilla for dinner (which was actually quite good).

When we got back from our town run we were finally able to check in. The internet wasn’t working so cash only and our host let us know she’d leave out a thermos, bun and a kiwi for us for the morning. So much for the lovely breakfast I’d been imaging when I booked. We have a long day tomorrow so we’ll aim for an early start.